‘Fire and Fury’ sold out at local bookstoresResidents fill up waiting lists at shops, libraries

Photo courtesy of Shakespeare and Co.
“Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” on display at a bookstore

BY ERIKA NORTONWhen the highly anticipated book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” was released on Friday, Jan. 5 — four days earlier than expected — the book didn’t just sell out at bookstores in major cities, but local bookstores and public libraries are also eager to get their hands on more copies to meet demand.At Sparta Books in Sparta, N.J., since the book was released early, if you didn’t preorder the book, than you didn’t get a copy.“The publisher is out of them. Amazon is out of them. Everybody is absolutely out of them,” said Sparta Books owner Donna Fell, “because the publisher did not print enough copies not knowing how in demand the book was going to be. We didn’t know either.”The book, written by journalist Michael Wolff, details the first nine months of Donald Trump’s term as U.S. president, and has been denounced as “false,” “misleading” and “phony” by the White House. But with so many books about President Trump coming out, Fell said it’s hard to know which ones will be more popular than others, making it difficult to know how many to order. But now that this book has generated such a huge interest, Fell said she’s had more than 25 customers put their name on a waiting list for a back ordered copy. “We’ve got them backordered in our warehouse and as soon as the publisher reprints them, we’ll be getting copies,” Fell said. “I don’t know how soon that is, but I know my warehouse has over 40,000 on back order.”At Black Dog Books in Newton, N.J., owner Catherine Cassidy said they are in a similar boat.“Every phone call I got on Friday and Saturday was regarding if I had copies of it,” Cassidy said. “It has weaned off,” she continued, “because I think people now know that it’s sold out everywhere and we’re waiting for the copies to hit the wholesalers and distributors.”Ye Olde Warwick Book Shoppe in Warwick, has been getting lots of calls from folks in their area about the book. According to Mary Ellen King, the website where they order their books from says that the book is on back order all over the country, but doesn’t give a date for when they can expect the copies, “so we have no clue,” she said.Local libraries Requests for “Fire and Fury” are also pouring in at local libraries. As of Wednesday, Jan. 10, the Ramapo Catskill Library System, which serves public libraries in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York State, there were 353 holds requested for 25 copies, all of which were listed as “coming soon.” The audio book also had 77 holds requested for three copies. The Sussex County Library System in New Jersey had 54 holds requested for 14 copies of the book as of Wednesday, which listed the book as “available by request.” PALS Plus Libraries in Passaic County, New Jersey, which includes the West Milford Township Library, said that out of six copies, two were checked out and the rest were listed as “being acquired by the library.”According to the Pike County Public Library in Milford, Pa., they have two copies on order right now and are waiting for them to come in. The library has also gotten a number of requests for the book. Read it nowMajor bookseller, Amazon, lists the hardcover copy as “usually ships within 2 to 4 weeks,” and Barnes and Noble says they expect to ship orders on Jan. 19.But those who can’t wait for a physical copy can get the e-book and read it via an e-reader such as a Kindle. The Kindle book is selling for $14.99 on Amazon.Those who enjoy audiobooks can listen to the book through their computer or smart devices via apps like Audible. Audible gives users a 30-day free trial and one free audiobook to get started.